I've made an unsettling discovery. Shocking, actually. My mother was a drug pusher.

She shamelessly pushed Cheerios on me when I was a kid. And it worked. I'm still a two-or-three-bowls-a-week user. But I can quit anytime. Really.

My mother's shadowy past came to light in a recent letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to General Mills.

As far as I know, my mother wasn't mentioned by name in the letter. So, they may not be on to her yet. But I don't know for sure. I haven't seen the letter itself, just news accounts about it. I don't think she has to worry in any case. She's been dead long enough that I think the statute of limitations has probably run out on her illicit behavior.

Rx in a Bowl

It turns out, the feds say, that those commercials General Mills has been running about Cheerios being "clinically proven to help lower cholesterol" made Cheerios a drug under federal law.

And the commercials? A serious legal violation, according to the FDA.

The feds suggested the company could file a new-drug application for Cheerios if it wanted to keep claiming the cereal can lower cholesterol.

I'm all for the government making sure our food is safe -- and accurately labeled.

But, as it turns out, the issue here isn't a matter of accuracy. The issue is that General Mills made a specific health claim: That Cheerios can lower your cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks.

True or not, the FDA says, a specific health claim like that can only be made for drugs, not food. So, Cheerios will have to be reclassified as a drug if General Mills wants to put those commercials back on the air. Does that mean I'll need a prescription for my breakfast cereal? And does it mean the FDA doesn't believe switching to a healthier diet will improve your health?

ALL of the news coverage was negative for either FDA or General Mills.¹ The coverage painted an overwhelmingly negative view of FDA's register-Cheerios-as-a-drug stand. But General Mills also took some hits by people wondering if the company had been less than honest in the health claims it made for the cereal.

Folks weighed in through the social media, too -- mostly to voice their unhappiness with the FDA's decision to turn their breakfast cereal into a drug. And several hundred Facebooks members joined Cheerios support groups² and at least 49 folks uploaded videos on YouTube.

One interesting sidebar to the story: None of the news coverage mentioned that General Mills was the first company in the food industry to convert all of its cereals to whole grains -- something it did several years ago and a change that supports worldwide diet and health recommendations.

I think I've changed my mind about my mother's behavior, though. At first, I was disillusioned to think that my own mother was pushing drugs. But it's made me look at her in a new light.

I always thought of her as a kind of goody-two-shoes. Daily mass. Totally honest. Would do pretty much anything in her power to help the people around her. Loved her kids.

But, hey, there was a saucy side to her, it turns out. If I'd have known in time, I think I would have wanted to tell her: You go, girl.